My sniper is only at level 15 so far but I'm having a great time with this class. My impression is that the IA (both variants) is kind of a special class which turns a lot of people off... not very strong defense, almost no healing, and a DPS that isn't powerful enough to fully compensate. It's all about planning ahead and precise execution.

To me this is entirely logical as it fits my idea of what a Sniper is and does... he travels light, strives to remain unseen, hits quick and focused, and disappears. No 1-minute melee wrestling or gigantic open plaza shootouts. So to be a Sniper, you have to think like a Sniper. I think a lot of slightly older players are going to get into this class with time.

I think of it as a combination of The Jackal, the classic '70s movie/novel, and early James Bond. The British accents are entirely appropriate. The Sniper is suave, is cool.

I might join a Guild, once I hit 50.

I have a 50 sniper and a 50 Op. The class is pretty well balanced, but can be a challenge to level as we get our healer companion so late in the process. Snipers have solid dps, but it's relatively slow to generate and hampers mobility. Ops just got nerfed making them less attractive. The lethality tree is also a power hog in pvp making it tough to manage power.

I'd say that we're less common because other classes can do what we do easier and better for the most part. Want AE, take a sorc/Merc/Powertech. Want stealth, play an assassin hybrid. Want heals, play sorc and have nearly an unlimited power pool and awesome AE heal.

That and it's star wars... people want a light saber!

I am noticing the same thing on our server (a heavily populated one with some large guilds). A refreshing change for me, because no matter what class I start playing on an MMO, by the time I reach max level, it has become the most popular class.

I'm looking forward to honing my skills in Ops and HM FPs in a couple of levels, and then see if I will stick with my Sniper or level up my tankassin.

On my server there are few operatives (maybe 1/20 of sorcs) and 1/8th of that play sniper. I am surprised the class hasn't been buffed already on those stats alone; usually developers want to push people into the under-used classes, seemingly not in tor.

I can speak to sniper:

• The class is very hard to play in comparison to others.
  
• It doesn't get a healer companion for a while, which can be frustrating.
  
• Natural cover system frustrates people, not everyone figures out how to get around it.
  
• It has many bugs with cover which prevent you from using abilities.
  
• Actual game-play differs from what people expect and associate with being a sniper.
  
• We have no force powers, making us pretty useless in hutt-ball in comparison.
  
• People like shooting lightning and swinging light-sabers. Which we don't do.
  
• The class does sort of the same damage as other classes, if you're good.
  
• You need to key bind and use like 20 abilities to be effective.
  
• Sniper is very squishy and considered a 'free kill' by most.
  
• Most IAs chose Operative pre-nurf because it was portrayed as really strong.
  
• Many Operatives re-rolled another class, post-nurf or for other reasons.
  

I wish the i'm cool, its fine' people would instead help us get buffed. Lets put it this way, nobody is calling for a nurf, that should tell you that its underpowered.

People chase the fotm, and run from any class that gets hit with the nerf bat, real or perceived.

My operative is level 35. Love it and having a blast, both solo and in groups. I don't pvp. I have no issues with the class.

On my server, ops are few and far between. People tend to not understand the class mechanics and there are a few things BW can improve on to make the ops a viable choice in the future. As for class mechanics, it's a lot of watching the energy bar and making sure you're not screwing yourself over by throwing energy away. It's definitely a more tricky level of play that most people would stay away from if they had the choice. I play an op healer and I really like it. I can keep my fp and ops groups healed well and I definitely enjoy my op in pvp. It's just people's opinion.

Why play an op and have to watch your energy bar from dipping below 60 when you can be a sorc and/or trooper and not have to worry too much as long as your rotation's right? When faced with that question people are like "oh yeah, that's right" and they go on to other classes. I'd say that's why there's not more of us around.

Because we ended up getting a slight nerf and apparently people who play agents and smugglers have never seen a nerf before in their life so they think it's the end of the world and ran off to play sorcerers and sages.

I can guarantee you if sorc/sages get nerfed, no matter how small, you'll see equal amounts of complaining about how they are "garbage" and "useless" and "gimp", too.

Force Lightning now does 2% less damage? ZOMG SORCERERS ARE RUINED AAAA BIOWARE RUINED THE CLASS!

I can speak to sniper:

• The class is very hard to play in comparison to others.
  
• It doesn't get a healer companion for a while, which can be frustrating.
  
• Natural cover system frustrates people, not everyone figures out how to get around it.
   
  
• We have no force powers, making us pretty useless in hutt-ball in comparison.
  
• People like shooting lightning and swinging light-sabers. Which we don't do.
  
• The class does sort of the same damage as other classes, if you're good.
  
• You need to key bind and use like 20 abilities to be effective.
  
• Sniper is very squishy and considered a 'free kill' by most.
  

 

I wish the i'm cool, its fine' people would instead help us get buffed. Lets put it this way, nobody is calling for a nurf, that should tell you that its underpowered.

A lot of these attributes, particularly the first 3 ones, should be considered an interesting challenge to people, not cause them to run away. I'm a newbie and chose Sniper because it seemed cool, but if it goes down in history as the hardest class to play, that's just a feather in the cap of all Snipers (ditto for Operatives).

[*]Actual game-play differs from what people expect and associate with being a sniper.

Yes, to some extent it does, and if anything I wish the designers would have made the Sniper even more Sniperish (and different from the heavy shootout type classes) than it is. These melee fights I keep getting into isn't Sniper style... they lack dignity.

But yeah, the class may be too hard, and I think people are dropping out from it. I for one would certainly expect a main rifle that is absolutely deadly if I was a Sniper. I mean one where you will drop an even level with 1 shot. That's actually a step towards more realism.

The nerf to Concealment, followed a week later by the Surge nerf, caused something of an exodus among Operatives. There's a perceoption that Operative DPS is low, though without a combat log it's really difficult to prove.

I will say this -- as much as I love playing my Operative, there are issues.

1) Our healing spec is a solid sustained-healing spec. The problem here is that Sorcerers can sustain group-wide healing just as easily, and throw mitigation on top of it. In any case where an Operative would be useful, a Sorcerer could perform the task better.

2) Concealment PVE is highly vulnerable to fight mechanics. The lack of a gap closer makes target-switch fights problematic. Bosses with "don't stand behind him" mechanics severely gimp our DPS. The council fight in EV effectively shuts off our two most powerful attacks, and raids usually wind up waiting on us to catch up to the rest of the group. Unlike most DPS specs, we don't place debuffs on the boss that help the raid, all debuffs are for our personal benefit only.

3) Lethality is better suited for raid encounters, but compared to Sniper's version of the spec, it has major issues. Operatives have to generate Tactical Advantage before they can Cull. We have to do this while maintaining one stack of TA at all times to maximize our DPS. Sniper Lethality doesn't have this added mechanic, meaning their entire rotation flows a lot smoother. If you're going to raid as Lethality, there is no compelling reason to do so as an Operative.

Last night, I got to deal with the endless frustration of trying to DPS Bonethrasher as Concealment. Since the boss constantly refaces himself, attacking from behind consistently is difficult. I feel more like a liabilty to the group than an asset -- and while many have complained about this feeling over the last two months, I personally never felt that until last night.

I can't speak for Snipers since mine is only 13ish, but Operatives need a LOT of work.

I have a Marksmanship Sniper at 50, he is my first (and currently my only) 50, I love him and don't regret rolling Sniper for a minute. That said, a lot of my enjoyment was playing through the amazing Imperial Agent story, and I don't play him at 50 that much; the Flashpoints and Operations that I've done have been fun, but I'm distracted by alts, so in addition to my usual alt-itis, there's something about the class that doesn't hold my attention all that well.

Some further thoughts:

PVE:

Good damage, but squishy. Successful solo PVE required a significant degree of care until I finally got the healing companion in the mid 30s and picked up some fairly key skills (like Followthrough) after which things got substantially easier. In Flashpoints and Operations, I do feel quite useful because I can stay far away from the center of the action (reducing the healing burden compared to say, melee DPS that has to be close to a boss and potential AOEs, etc.) and contribute a lot of damage because nothing is paying attention to me as long as I don't go crazy before the tank has aggro.

PVP:

I felt like a god as a Sniper in lower-level PVP (below 30 or so), but at 50 I rarely bother because it's just not fun. Disclaimer: I'm really not particularly good at PVP, so that's definitely part of the problem. However, what usually happens is that I get bounced around like a ping-pong ball and can't get much done. If no one pays attention, I can wreak havoc, but that's rare: generally I'm (rightly) seen as a soft target and get taken out. Huttball is particularly depressing in this regard.

can be a challenge to level as we get our healer companion so late in the process.

I honestly believe this is a very large part of why you see so few Agents (snipers in particular) on many servers. While I really enjoy playing my sniper, the leveling between about 20 and 35 (especially coming from my Assassin, on whom I could stealth my way through most quests really quickly) felt like a really hefty grind. I ignored him almost completely for a while and focused on my Assassin, but now that I've gone back to my Sniper and gotten him past Taris (where we get our healer companion) things feel a lot smoother and it's once again a joy to play. I've got him at 41 right now and I suspect I'll be pushing him to 50 fairly quickly, but I think a lot of players get discouraged by that hump in mid-levels, or just don't enjoy the grind and translate that to not enjoying the class.

Also, obviously, the cover mechanics/playstyle are not for everyone. Personally I really enjoy playing as a Marksman sniper and using the cover system, it adds some variety to the usual MMO dps style. However, I can definitely see how others might not like it. Especially given the questionable design decision of having knockbacks/certain pulls/etc yank or throw you out of cover. Given the (I cannot stress this enough, it's one of my few major gripes about this game) massive, throbbing, face-slapping erection the BW devs seem to have for knockbacks and the like, it almost negates the point of having interrupt/pushback immunity while in cover, which is one of the main things that makes snipers (marksman spec in particular) work in both PVP and PVE.

tl;dr: I enjoy playing as an IA, but there are challenges both in levelling and general playstyle/mechanics that can turn a lot of people off the class.

I know from talking with some people that the cover system is a turnoff right at the start....even those who aren't going sniper, because they assume they need to use it (which you don't as an operative). And as a Sniper, later on it's not like you're just running around searching for cover, I usually just crouch anyway.

It does feel like the IA is a little more complicated than the other classes. That's hardly a deterrent for me, nor is anything else, since I have both an Operative and Sniper.

Honestly I think as someone else already said, most people really just want to wield a lightsaber and leap around shooting lightning and stuff. You feel cool like that right from the start on the Force Wielding classes, but the IA starts off with awkard, confused combat abilities, and doesn't have any iconic figure attached to them.

Yet, still coolest story imo.

As for the "most people quit around 40-50", that's a odd statement to make unless someone has a chart showing how many people playing various classes stopped playing at a certain level.

PS - I didn't find my BH to be any less challenging to level than my Operative. If anything the Operative was easier because I could stealth through so much. Sniper is giving me grief not being able to heal or stealth, though. Fortunately I at least kill stuff really fast.

A lot of these attributes, particularly the first 3 ones, should be considered an interesting challenge to people, not cause them to run away.

The problem is everything is relative. A well-played Operative can do some amazing things... but even a poorly managed Sorcerer can do nearly all of those same things, and often much more. So even if the Operative is still "playable", why would you want to play one over a Sorcerer? This applies both to you, as a player, and to people forming groups/guilds. When ranged is better than melee, when Force with a constant regen is better than Energy with its scaling regen, when one class has a secondary resource (Tactical Advantage) and one doesn't... well, you quickly get into an area where there's absolutely no reason to want an Operative.

Most people who played Operative pre-nerf were not doing it out of any sort of "Flavor of the Month" philosophy; it's a particularly stupid accusation to make considering that the Operative population was NEVER high, and that the nerfs took place barely after the people who'd rolled Operatives as their primary characters first reached 50. We did it because we liked the class' mix of abilities, storyline, voice actors, ship, companions, etc. But most of that is just not enough to make up for the power disparity; instead of struggling through content as an Operative, you can roll a Sorcerer or Mercenary and breeze through most of the same content.

And this definitely hurts us in groups and guilds; consider end-game raids for instance. Many endgame mobs are immune to crowd-control abiltiies, have AoE effects (especially point-blank AoEs), and generate "environmental" hazards that make life difficult for melee folks, but which have no significant impact on ranged DPS. So if you're assembling a group to fight Karagga's Palace, for instance, why would you want a DPS Operative over a ranged damage-dealer like a Sorcerer? A well-equipped, well-played Operative can do some amazing things, and is definitely worth taking on raids. But how do you convince prospective inviters that you're that exception to the rule when they know that so many other Operatives will struggle in the same situation? In my first KP run in my new guild, I felt useless half the time because of the Operative's shortcomings; they loved me there for my class buff, but I definitely wasn't dealing as much damage as the other DPS classes. After plenty of practice and lots of luck on gear I'm now a key member of these raids, but it was a long and painful process to get there.

This is why those small nerfs that people complained about have a disproportionately large impact; we had one and only one area that we really shined in (burst DPS), and by removing a large fraction of our advantage there, we reach a point where we as a class now bring nothing to the table that other classes can't match, while they at the same time add disproportionate value in other areas that we can't even come close to matching (utility, CC, etc.). If they'd compensated for the loss in burst DPS by giving us better sustained DPS or non-combat utility then we'd be perfectly fine with the changes, but they didn't.

And then there's one last angle to consider: most of the people who play this game (especially in the non-Force classes) are MMO veterans. We've all seen the difference between a good set of developers and a bad one. Frankly, Bioware's record so far is atrocious, and this is most apparent in how they've dealt with Operatives (and how little they've responded to our concerns; they've had fewer posts on the ENTIRE AGENT CLASS than they've had on explaining white lightsaber crystals). Maybe the rest of the classes can ignore this and hope for the best in the end, but those of us on the nerfed end of the stick have become disillusioned with Bioware's ability to run an MMO faster than most.

 

And then there's one last angle to consider: most of the people who play this game (especially in the non-Force classes) are MMO veterans.

I actually hadn't considered this (the correlation between non-force users and previous MMO experience), but that's an interesting point and I think that's probably accurate. Most people who came to the game purely for the Star Wars tag would naturally gravitate toward the force-using classes, except possibly on republic side where Han fans might lean more toward smuggler. That would tend to load the force-wielding classes with MMO newbies when compared to the other classes.

Hrm.

So even if the Operative is still "playable", why would you want to play one over a Sorcerer?

Because I like playing an Operative more than a Sorcerer and the last thing my guild needs is more Inquisitors? You know like, having fun playing what you enjoy and stuff?

I know what you mean about struggling to show what you can do in a class that isn't received very well by the community at large...I had to deal with that in a previous MMO experience. Eventually that completely changed and I was happy to have stuck with what I enjoyed.

But I haven't personally experienced it in this game yet. If I didn't read these forums I'd be happily ignorant this problem existed.

All the other melee classes deal with the same boss AOE/environmental hazard issues. Switching to Lethality helped avoid a lot of that.

Also, about the people rolling force users v. non force users and MMO veterans, it could be true but in my own guild, we're 99% coming from 1 or more other MMOs but still probably 85% rolled force using classes from the start...mostly Inquisitors. And that's in the pre launch guild system before many got to even Beta test.

Most people who came to the game purely for the Star Wars tag would naturally gravitate toward the force-using classes, except possibly on republic side where Han fans might lean more toward smuggler.

You also get a number of BH players (especially Mercenaries) who want to emulate Boba Fett. But yes, I'd say that the Imperial Agent population is significantly skewed towards MMO veterans, folks who are far less willing to forgive serious game issues solely because "it's Star Wars!"; it's a class that's barely acknowledged in the official lore, and its abilities (poison and knife attacks) don't really fit with any of the movies.

But I haven't personally experienced it in this game yet. If I didn't read these forums I'd be happily ignorant this problem existed.

Then you're the exception to the rule. For those of us who didn't join a guild until we were already 50, and had to spend a large amount of our time convincing groups to invite us to any group content, it was often a very unpleasant experience. When half a dozen group leaders boot you outright upon discovering that you're an Operative, and then explicitly advertise for "ranged DPS", THEN you can talk about the group issues we deal with. Whether the issue is factual or purely a perception issue doesn't matter, because the end effect on us is the same.

All the other melee classes deal with the same boss AOE/environmental hazard issues

No, they don't. Other melee classes have "gap closer" abilities that let them leap directky back into melee combat once the all-clear is given, or Force Speed to quickly run away when the boss starts his big AoE, or whatever. The time period during which we're dealing no melee damage is significantly larger than for other melee classes, because we have none of these sorts of abilities. This also doesn't bring into account our relative shortage of defensive instacast effects, our lack of ability to help the group during times when DPS is not an option, our lack of AoE effects, and so on.

Lethality's not an acceptable solution because of the TA-generation issues we've rehashed many times, and because it doesn't really solve most of the above issues. Sure, a 10m range is an improvement over the 4m melee range, but it's still far inferior to the actual ranged DPS classes.

Hi, end-game sniper here. I'm in half Rakata, just over 2k cunning fully buffed (2005 to be exact) with 820 bonus tech damage (just giving the numbers to put things in perspective).

I am the only imperial agent in my entire guild. I am also one of the few end-game snipers I see in my server. In warzones I will usually be the only sniper or IA, sometimes there will be one or two more.

Most of the reason we are so few is because of our allure (or lack thereof). Being a non lightsaber class already means fewer players, and the bounty hunters have something going for them (call it lore, charisma, kewl, etc) and we don't.

Our companion progression is clunky and slow. Kaliyo is not the best of tanks, Vector is not a good DPS, and you spend more than half the game with just these two. Your proper healing companion comes quite late, as an added bonus he can't heal and dps at the same time (his dps abilities are turned off in healing mode, I do not know of any other class that has such a companion). The proper tank comes very, very late (almost end game) and the all too powerful AoE (orbital strike) is basically an end-game skill (by the time you get it, you are almost finished with the last planet and probably with your class quest). These all combine to make leveling IA tedious and create bumps along the way of leveling. We also have a crippling bug with a certain NPC in the storyline should you choose to fight the NPC.

Many players would grit their teeth and endure that if IAs were strong end-game material. From a PvE aspect,

Sniper: A mercenary will deal comparable damage with higher damage reduction, a heal button and more utility (CC and cleanse to name two). During a boss fight mercenaries out-damage any build of sniper because heatseeker missiles deal more damage the more mercenaries you have in the ops.

Operative: Sorcs are hands down better healers. Certain boss mechanics castrate concealment DPS. Lethality is wierd and as mentioned above, it's not the top DPS against bosses anyhow.

PvP is a bottomless debate pit but even if they performed at equal level compared to other classes (not saying they don't) the PvE shortcomings are enough to steer poeple away from both classes.

 

 

Then you're the exception to the rule. For those of us who didn't join a guild until we were already 50, and had to spend a large amount of our time convincing groups to invite us to any group content, it was often a very unpleasant experience. When half a dozen group leaders boot you outright upon discovering that you're an Operative, and then explicitly advertise for "ranged DPS", THEN you can talk about the group issues we deal with. Whether the issue is factual or purely a perception issue doesn't matter, because the end effect on us is the same.

I sympathize, I never said anyone was a liar. I admit I'm fortunate to have transferred over with a guild and never had to look for one. While I agree the Operative needs some developer help in some areas, I still do think the community has made it far worse than it is and therefore people are forced to deal with this kind of douchebaggery. The people who post stuff like "Operatives are useless/garbage" and "quit playing so there will be so few that Bioware has to do something" are only hurting us and not twisting Bioware's arm to do anything as they might imagine.

No, they don't. Other melee classes have "gap closer" abilities that let them leap directky back into melee combat once the all-clear is given, or Force Speed to quickly run away when the boss starts his big AoE, or whatever. The time period during which we're dealing no melee damage is significantly larger than for other melee classes, because we have none of these sorts of abilities. This also doesn't bring into account our relative shortage of defensive instacast effects, our lack of ability to help the group during times when DPS is not an option, our lack of AoE effects, and so on.

You're right about the gap closer, which has always been a big beef of mine and something I feel was a design flaw on Bioware's part. I even tried asking this for the Q&A.

That doesn't mean the other classes don't still have a challenge to deal with, though. They can use it on the way out or the way in, not both. And sometimes they are bad and don't move fast enough anyway. Either way they still have to watch for the timer/emotes, stop what they're doing and ****. Not sure what you mean about "lack of ability to help the group during times when dps is not an option". I would feel completely comfortable with my aoe abilities if not for the fact that OS/FG/CG/CB spam leads to energy depletion pretty fast. I think lowering the energy cost of some of those things or some kind of free energy proc for one of those would be a nice idea.

Lethality's not an acceptable solution because of the TA-generation issues we've rehashed many times, and because it doesn't really solve most of the above issues. Sure, a 10m range is an improvement over the 4m melee range, but it's still far inferior to the actual ranged DPS classes.

Maybe it's not an ideal solution, but it's acceptable for me for the time being and it does feel more comfortable as I can time out my movement. I don't have another geared 50 or the ability to change my AC, and nobody is interested in kicking a good player/guildie for a random ranged class, I'm simply doing the best I can with the tools given to me. There's really not much else to say....in all likelihood changes will be made eventually that will make unhappy people happier. Find what makes you happy in the meantime and keep sending Bioware feedback.

(side thought - honestly don't know why Cull requires TA....not like it's any good without all your dots, and you want to keep a stack of TA up anyway, as well as watching your energy. If they removed that requirement it would be very smooth. Any reasons why they NEED to keep it? Would that suddenly become OP?)

The problem is everything is relative. A well-played Operative can do some amazing things... but even a poorly managed Sorcerer can do nearly all of those same things, and often much more. So even if the Operative is still "playable", why would you want to play one over a Sorcerer? This applies both to you, as a player, and to people forming groups/guilds. When ranged is better than melee, when Force with a constant regen is better than Energy with its scaling regen, when one class has a secondary resource (Tactical Advantage) and one doesn't... well, you quickly get into an area where there's absolutely no reason to want an Operative.

 

Most people who played Operative pre-nerf were not doing it out of any sort of "Flavor of the Month" philosophy; it's a particularly stupid accusation to make considering that the Operative population was NEVER high, and that the nerfs took place barely after the people who'd rolled Operatives as their primary characters first reached 50. We did it because we liked the class' mix of abilities, storyline, voice actors, ship, companions, etc. But most of that is just not enough to make up for the power disparity; instead of struggling through content as an Operative, you can roll a Sorcerer or Mercenary and breeze through most of the same content.

 

And this definitely hurts us in groups and guilds; consider end-game raids for instance. Many endgame mobs are immune to crowd-control abiltiies, have AoE effects (especially point-blank AoEs), and generate "environmental" hazards that make life difficult for melee folks, but which have no significant impact on ranged DPS. So if you're assembling a group to fight Karagga's Palace, for instance, why would you want a DPS Operative over a ranged damage-dealer like a Sorcerer? A well-equipped, well-played Operative can do some amazing things, and is definitely worth taking on raids. But how do you convince prospective inviters that you're that exception to the rule when they know that so many other Operatives will struggle in the same situation? In my first KP run in my new guild, I felt useless half the time because of the Operative's shortcomings; they loved me there for my class buff, but I definitely wasn't dealing as much damage as the other DPS classes. After plenty of practice and lots of luck on gear I'm now a key member of these raids, but it was a long and painful process to get there.

 

This is why those small nerfs that people complained about have a disproportionately large impact; we had one and only one area that we really shined in (burst DPS), and by removing a large fraction of our advantage there, we reach a point where we as a class now bring nothing to the table that other classes can't match, while they at the same time add disproportionate value in other areas that we can't even come close to matching (utility, CC, etc.). If they'd compensated for the loss in burst DPS by giving us better sustained DPS or non-combat utility then we'd be perfectly fine with the changes, but they didn't.

 

And then there's one last angle to consider: most of the people who play this game (especially in the non-Force classes) are MMO veterans. We've all seen the difference between a good set of developers and a bad one. Frankly, Bioware's record so far is atrocious, and this is most apparent in how they've dealt with Operatives (and how little they've responded to our concerns; they've had fewer posts on the ENTIRE AGENT CLASS than they've had on explaining white lightsaber crystals). Maybe the rest of the classes can ignore this and hope for the best in the end, but those of us on the nerfed end of the stick have become disillusioned with Bioware's ability to run an MMO faster than most.

Outstanding post, and pretty much sums it up. Anyway this can be forwarded to BW?

From what my guildies and friends have said, they don't have a good understanding of the class and abilities. Several of them loved the class in the first 10 levels because of the high damage output but then as they started getting more abilities and questing in areas that don't have cover spots readily available, I guess it got too complicated or confusing to them. But as much as I know about them, they're expecting some run n gun play style which of course isn't really the case.

I wish there were 2 fights that were earlier on rather than towards the end, which forces you to really learn the class (at least for a sniper). I forget exactly when it happens but I know it's in the last 10 levels. One boss you're forced to time and rotate your CCs and interrupts or you'll never win the fight. And another you have to keep moving so you can only fire off one ability from cover before you have to move again. After both those fights, everything else was a cake walk as I had a full understanding of every ability both in and out of cover.

In PVP it's really just something (as a sniper) you have to accept. My first Huttball game wasn't on my IA and one of my teammates told me if I see a sniper, kill him/her first. And when I finally did a Huttball on my IA I understood why. I took a high perch and was untouchable for quite some time, single-handedly ripping the other team a new one. Then they got smart and there was someone always camping me. Yeah we're squishy up close but we're deadly otherwise.

It's a combination of play style and understanding. Pretty much those that I know who ditched their IA was because they were expecting a different play style.

I know it throws some people off, one of my guildmates tried rolling concealment, kept saying "is this a melee class? Seems more like healing/ranged hybrid" and I explained how the different specs worked. At level 10 he gave up and said "yeah this isn't a melee class, all my melee abilities have cooldowns" and switched over to Assassin. Me being level 50 and assuring him it really was a melee class didn't help

So does this basically describe the life of an IA? http://youtu.be/pncnJh17Qm4

Sorry, couldn't stop myself.